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Saturday, 16 June 2012

Drawing Exercise to Improve Visual Memory

Drawing what is perceived rather than what is seen in front is the enemy of the artist
striving for realism. To combat this perceptual imbalance, students may
practice drawing an object from life by the use of recall after a short
time-lapse.

Art
Lesson Activity: Drawing a Picture from Memory

How to Draw from Memory
(Sketch of a Young Child)

Drawing
an object involves looking at the object and then looking down upon the paper
in order to record what is seen. Of course, whilst the artist is looking down,
the subject matter in front is not longer being looked at. Drawing accurately
means retaining what has been seen and transferring this information down onto
the paper. But in many cases, a short term visual memory can interfere with the
accuracy of the drawing.

How
to Get Better at Drawing from Memory

In
some cases, the artist forgets to keep looking up at the object, with the
result the drawing is sourced more from memory (or what is perceived) than what
the eyes see. Inaccuracies in the drawing only become apparent when the drawing
is viewed as whole once the drawing has been completed. With this in mind, how
can this drawing problem be combated?

Exercise
into Drawing Accuracy

Exercising
visual memory during the drawing stage can help. This exercise ‘reminds’
students to look at the subject matter in order to retain the visual
information whilst looking down onto paper. A simple object or photograph
depicting contours may be used initially. The subject matter might be a cup, a
glove or even a life model. A photograph might be used instead, which may
depict a landscape, an abstract form or something else of interest.

Simple
Drawing Exercise

Practicing
visual memory entails the following method:

Place the visual reference/photo or subject matter in a room.

Place the drawing paper outside the room. It might be pinned onto an easel or placed on a table.

Instruct students to go into the room where the subject matter is located. Observe a chosen aspect of the object which is to be recorded as the drawing’s first line.

Walk out of the room and draw the line observed.

Go back into the aforementioned room and observe the next feature of the subject matter.

Walk out and draw the next line.

Repeat until the drawing is completed.

If
accuracy is in question, take another look at the subject matter and correct as
necessary. The subject matter may be referred to as many times as necessary but
the drawing paper and the subject matter must never be in the same room.

Exercising
Visual Memory for Art Schools

Retaining
visual memory of contours and features of the subject matter during transit
from the room is the point of the exercise. With practice visual retention of
what is seen will improve. This means the time lapse between ‘looking’ and
laying it down in pencil. Challenge can be provided with more complex subject
matter and with increased time lapse –a longer distance to travel between the
drawing paper and the subject matter. Of course, never be too ambitious in the
first instance.

4 comments:

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This blog offers art challenges for oils, alkyds, acrylics, watercolors, pastels and crafts for all ages which might be used for developing artists or as lesson plan ideas for teachers. I have a BA in Fine Art and a PCET in teaching. I have condensed my teaching experience within my book ‘How do I Inspire my Art Class? I have also written other books on oil painting. Read more about this blog.